Oh Yes You Are!

Then, in a fit of desperation to prevent Apple from taking over the smartphone universe (instead of just the profits), Google gave away Android for free.

If you were a cell phone maker wouldn’t you like to have an iOS-like operating system that looked and worked much like an iPhone? For free!

Free is what put Android out front, even though Apple takes home most of the industry’s smartphone and tablet profits.

Still, Google is not well liked in Cupertino any more. Name the head of any other large company which identifies users as products. That’s right. If you use Google, you’re part of the product, and certainly not much of a customer.

How so, Ms. MacKenzie? How so?

Google collects data about you, where you are, what you do, what you view, what you read, which sites you visit, and the contents of your email and stored data. Here’s what Tim Cook had to say about that.

Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers,” he wrote. “We don’t ‘monetize’ the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.

Ouch.

Apple released a new version of the popular Safari web browser and it has a new setting. If you’re concerned that Google tracks you too much, read what Apple says about changes in Safari.

Adds DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn’t track users, as a built-in option in the search field

Encrypts all Yahoo searches from the search field

The gloves are off. Nice-nice is so yesterday. Apple also announced that it’s now almost impossible for the company to hand over data from iPhones and iPads to police– even if they have a search warrant.

What About Advertising?

Similar to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs missives on Flash and Music, CEO Tim Cook has a simple message about Apple’s commitment to customer privacy.

At Apple, your trust means everything to us. That’s why we respect your privacy and protect it with strong encryption, plus strict policies that govern how all data is handled. Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all our hardware, software, and services, including iCloud and new services like Apple Pay.

That’s all well and good but what caught my eye was this take on advertising. After all, Apple’s iAd competes with Google’s mobile advertising efforts, so how are they different?

One very small part of our business does serve advertisers, and that’s iAd. We built an advertising network because some app developers depend on that business model, and we want to support them as well as a free iTunes Radio service. iAd sticks to the same privacy policy that applies to every other Apple product. It doesn’t get data from Health and HomeKit, Maps, Siri, iMessage, your call history, or any iCloud service like Contacts or Mail, and you can always just opt out altogether.

Translation: Apple good, Google bad.

Step-by-step Apple is coming down on the side of good vs. evil, on the side of privacy vs. data harvesting, on the side of security vs. anything goes. How evil has Google become in recent years?

None of than Rupert Murdoch’s notorious and infamous News Corp called Google a ‘platform for piracy.’ Not privacy. Piracy. As in the seafarers who steal what doesn’t belong to them. News Corps’ chief executive said Google ‘systematically diverts users away from relevant sites to its own related sites for commercial reasons.’

Translation: Google cheats.

Final Question

Knowing what Google does with your information, and knowing what Apple does not do with your information, which of the two companies have your best interests at heart? Why would anyone who knows how Google operates buy a product with Android inside? Or, use a Google search engine?

Wireless Whole House Audio

Airfoil streams any audio from your Mac to AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Chromecast hardware, all in sync. You can send any audio, anywhere. Get a free trial today!

How To Switch

About Kate MacKenzie

I'm from Brooklyn, New York, used a Mac for more than 25 years, and have followed Apple since the last century. Read more of my articles here. My personal site, PixoBebo, is all about Apple. Follow me on Twitter.

« Next Article

Previous Article »

Comments

Well Ms MacKenzie you’ve gone a done it again. Wrote an excellent piece of TRUTH. This time concerning old Google.

I continue to divest myself of anything Google with the goal of having them/it OFF/OUT of my systems COMPLETELY. Sadly though, one must admit Google has woven itself into so many facets of our daily American technical life and more for that matter.

Oh, we where to quick to drink Google’s Kool-aid, weren’t we? Kinda like lemmings following the pied piper eh?

Now if I could just get my family to trust the old man knows what he’s talking about concerning Google.

Primary Sidebar

Search Mac360 »

Calculate Anything, Everywhere

PCalc is the premier calculator for scientists, engineers, students, and programmers; with RPN and themes, plus switchable horizontal and vertical layouts, a Notification Center widget, full AppleScript support, multiple undo and redo, and easy search, on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Watch.